can the hub on the xl be shaved a touch and a touch on the swingarm. I think I measured like 220mm on my xl or something like that. I know this has been touched on before but can not recall why that was not an option. Is it mm or inches?

Hubs with cush and disc in dirt configuration that would fit in the xr/xrl sa?
Or are there any disc/cush road or dirt that are spoked to fit in either the xr/xrl or xl? I can hunt but I know it has already been explored. From a maint stand point the caliper/rotor option is king but more length and stay drum with cush would be okay also.

Sooo, the question, regardless of rim (if going to end up lacing something up anyhow) is there a disc with cush drive hub that fits in one of the above mentioned swingarms?

the only thing you would need to do is weld on a rectangular aluminum tab onto the newer swing arm that matches the the groove in the hub on the drum. Also there was a post awhile back on a flat track with custom disc set up. I think he used a (exspensive) aftrermarket cush hub. Not 100% sure on this, so don't quote me. My Xl is mostly for hitting the trails so the cush is not overly important to me. If I am doing an adventure ride and loaded down, I probably won't be doing power wheelies anyways.

Yea, the cush drive is like a shock absorber for the counter shaft. Helpful but not necessary. Obviously, they stopped installing them. It might pay to be more gentle with the throttle on the street, but what can you do, sometimes you gotta give it to her.

i nearly dropped the bike at an intersection today when my foot got caught on the inside edge of the right peg, i got it free in time to stop the bike from falling completely over but i already had my knee out and hand out to soften the blow. so the damage to my pride infront of all the cars was already done because i looked like an ABSOLUTE FLIPPING IDIOT.......this is even after i defended them to everyone changing them for KLR pegs.

luckily the bike is so light that i easily pushed me and the bike back up with one leg and dumped the clutch to regain at least SOME street cred. i would like to have seen the same thing happen to a harley or bmw-dial-a-tractor. ka-CHUNK!

I remember reading somewhere that a weak battery in time could damage a stator.
Does anyone know if that is true or not??
I finally replaced my battery after charging it everytime I went for a ride.I run a switch for the lights so I don't run the lights all the time, only on the pavement.
It is a Ricky Stator only 5 months old. Only reason I ask is,I am beginning to get some starting issues and didn't know if this was the place to start.
Thanks as always. I'm on a slow learning curves with the ole XL.

The stator on the XL uses one pole for the ignition, one pole for the headlight and the rest for the tail light and other stuff like the turn signals, dash and taillight, heated gear etc... I would pull the plug and test for spark while kicking it over. Anything less than a robust blue spark at the plug means something is wrong. I did have one Ricky Stator go bad on mine after 4000 miles so it isn't like they all hold up forever. They did warrantee it and send me another one.
My superstition is that heat killed the stock one, and the summer highway cross country run killed the 2nd one. I put on an oil cooler and hope the bottom end gets the much needed cooling it deserves. Hopefully no more fried stators!

The stator on the XL uses one pole for the ignition, one pole for the headlight and the rest for the tail light and other stuff like the turn signals, dash and taillight, heated gear etc... I would pull the plug and test for spark while kicking it over. Anything less than a robust blue spark at the plug means something is wrong. I did have one Ricky Stator go bad on mine after 4000 miles so it isn't like they all hold up forever. They did warrantee it and send me another one.
My superstition is that heat killed the stock one, and the summer highway cross country run killed the 2nd one. I put on an oil cooler and hope the bottom end gets the much needed cooling it deserves. Hopefully no more fried stators!

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Thanks, I plan on putting a XR400 oil cooler ,I have sitting in my garage,on over the winter time just for that added cooling.

You know all about the footpegs but the handguards are a nice addition. Went for a short ride this morning @ 30F out and they did stop the wind pretty well. Don't know about bushes or treelimbs yet.

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they look the goods!

i had a pair of crappy plastic ones that had no metal bits, they had many arguments with trees and stayed in one piece for a surprisingly long amount of time, so a solid looking unit like that should do nicely.

Hi guys! I missed a lot of the usual XL talk, Im sure. I've been working on a 1967 Volvo 122s, my winter transportation. I love the XL and all, but I was so tired from last winter having no car and only the motorcycle. I couldn't put chains on it and dress myself when it swowed, it just wouldn't have been viable in any way. Now I can get in the warm cab after applying snow chains (if it comes to that) and get anywhere.

I am not converted to caging it, but here's another angle on this.

I've been wanting for some time now to convert the 100% guaranteed legal and licensable in any state XL600 frame to a true XR600 frame. Some say that I could swap vin plates from the XL to any XR and have this. That may be possible, but the stamped numbers on the head tube would not match, and to try and weld over, gtind, and re-stamp them to match would come out looking unprofessional, unbelievable, and is probably a sin and a felony. Not that I care, but it wouldn't look right. I have big-city DMV to dea with, not small-town. A friend of mine can plate whatever he wants in his small Oregon town, but not me. I wanted something 100% legal ANYWHERE I GO. Also, while the XR frame has the stronger square vertical oil tank tube in the frame, the XL frame has thicker tubing in the back for cargo support and passenger, as it was primarily designed to be a dual sport post-teen badasses could tote their girlfriend on. So that's the XL's overwheliming array of strong points. Now to make it look like an XR from the frame out.

I will be relocating the shock mounting points to match the XR's, and adding a bracket for the XR shock reservoir. Next, to make the seat and tank work, I also must use the XR airbox. Bracket mods to fit the airbox, as well as a swap from an XR frame (or modification of existing) seat arch in the rear must be done. With the seat, tank, and airbox on the frame, I now have wider acess to aftermarket oversize tanks. I also traded and adventure rider his Corbin seat for my stock XR seat, so that will go on. I am not short, but I am also not quite tall enough for the XR, I admit it. The corbin's lower profile will help with this, and it has very dense foam for long rides.

So now that you have heard my story, I will commence to tear down the bike at the shop where I have welding facilities, sandblasting, and powdercoating. A member of this community shop is also about to employ my services. He is building a big-ass powdercoating oven and needs my help welding a rolling rack. The rack has a rail that aligns with one inside the roof of the oven so you can roll it up and then roll your hanging motorcycle (or whatever) frame into the oven on this horizontal high track. It's going to be sweet. I'll add any brackets I may need in the future, including one fro a brake caliper master cylinder and passenger peg brackets. This should be dreamy!

it was primarily designed to be a dual sport post-teen badasses could tote their girlfriend on.

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.......ill be keeping that in mind.

Joel, not posting pics of every step of that build will be a crime against humanity. Thats like the Mecca of motorcycle porn and you will end up with the best, most capable XL600.....IN THE WORLD.
Which would then be ready for a nice big world trip just to prove it.
And I am damn jealous, you are combining everything fantastic about motorcycling into one package:

1 the XL600
2 Fabricating/modding/general making it better
3 Dual sports in general

Are you going to use the Dual carb XL600 engine aswell?

PS as for the volvo122 we dont get many of them over here, we get all the 2.5 tonne tanks (240e etcetc) but i can see yours if much more loveable. we all need more than just an XL600 in our lives, my other projects are a 1981 Suzuki Katana and a 1982 XR250 and recently ive been cleaning up our old Hobie Cataraman for summer. Theres still slot of motorcycling to get out of my system before i move on to cars however......also my garage is not big enough for a car at the moment anyway.

I don't have a working camers, but once I get started, I won't mention anything else about it until I have photos to share. Consider my avove statement as the introductory paragraph.

Glad to hear you are as excitable about my project as I could have expected. It takes both Australia and America to come up with just two XL600 fiends as ambitious and serious as we are. Now if the two of us only had the resources to do all the things we dream of doing...oh wait, I've got Tech Shop to work out of. Ok, ok, I'll get moving...